Insect traps have been traditionally used for surveying density and abundance of insects. In general, these traps are placed in locations such as palm plantations, to investigate the occurrence and abundance of insects such as, but not limited to, arthropods such as springtails and beetles. These traps also find use in monitoring activity patterns of various insects.
When used for monitoring the activity patterns of insects, these traps are generally either planted in the ground in close proximity to trees or suspended on trees. In operation, bait is usually disposed within these traps to lure insects as they move out of the trees in search of new hosts. In the process of finding new hosts, these insects typically get attracted to the bait and end up getting trapped in collection units of these traps. The collection units are designed to contain baited insects for monitoring their activity pattern. Sometimes, the collection units are operationally connected with an external power supply for time-sorting the collected insects for studying the activity pattern.
Even though, these insect traps are used for monitoring the activity pattern of insects, they have numerous limitations. Firstly, these traps are bulky and can only be used to monitor activity pattern of ground-dwelling insects. In addition, these traps lack the ability to efficiently sort the captured insects based on the captured time. Moreover, since the traps depend on external power supply, they cannot be used in remote locations where such power supply is not readily available.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for capturing and time-sorting insects.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the invention.